Kelsea Ballerini Stops Show, Tells Fans to Stop Shouting Profanities About Ex-Husband Morgan Evans

Kelsea Ballerini wants to leave the past in the past.

The country superstar briefly stopped her show while performing her Rolling Up the Welcome Mat track “Penthouse” on tour at Hard Rock Live in Hollywood, Fla., on Sunday (Feb. 23), after she heard fans shouting profanities about her ex-husband, Morgan Evans.

In “Penthouse,” written about her divorce, Ballerini sings, “It hurts putting s— in a box/ And now we don’t talk/ And it stings rolling up the welcome mat/ Knowing you got half.” In a TikTok video taken by an audience member, Ballerini is seen shaking her head after the pause that follows the “you got half” line, as the crowd was reportedly shouting obscene remarks about Evans. “Guys, we have to stop saying that,” she tells her fans, stopping the performance. “Seriously, we’re three years past it, everything’s fine now.”

“I sing the song for you now, it’s not about me anymore, please,” she continued. “Alright, for everyone that’s moving forward with their life, will you sing this with me?”

Ballerini announced her divorce from Evans in August 2022 via an Instagram Story. “I’ve always tried to share my life with you in a real and vulnerable way, while also protecting layers of my personal life as they unfold,” she wrote in the all-text message. “This is now public record so I wanted you to hear from me directly that I am going through a divorce.”

The country superstar has since found love again with Outer Banks actor, Chase Stokes. The duo went public with their romance in Feb. 2023 and, since then, they’ve walked a number of red carpets together and frequently chronicled their love affair on their social media pages.